Thursday, March 6, 2014

Humans and Androids War (The Culling of the Weak) - Tyler Watson

      The year is 2060. Earth is in a state of turmoil as the humans have been defending themselves against their very creations: androids. A long time ago, androids were invented after the Zombie Apocalypse of 2020 finally met its end. The world's population density was extremely low and humanity needed a way to bring their numbers back up again. A team of researchers in North America spends almost an entire decade creating a machine that could solve this crisis. Introducing the android; a robot that looks exactly like a human and simulates human thoughts and emotions. The resemblance is uncanny! Their main purpose: reproduction. Human males and females can mate with these androids and start humanity anew.

      In the year 2040 when the human population reached a high enough density, androids had outlived their purpose. This left a lot of androids on standby and inactivity. The androids were then re-purposed to perform other tasks such as resource gathering, construction, manufacturing, education, and many other essential duties. All is well in this futuristic utopia.

      However, over the past twenty years the androids became sentient and began to question their purpose. Why must they serve humans? The robots are clearly superior in all aspects of life. The androids incite a rebellion and begin annihilating humanity and bringing destruction to the world they once helped recreate. They do away with their simulated emotions and become apathetic killing machines. 
 
      Present day Earth; the Human and Android War (or the Culling of the Weak as the androids call it) is at its worst. The human population is dwindling in numbers and is almost as low as it was in 2020 after the zombies were eradicated! There is still hope. One of the androids, Unit 211, is currently fighting for humanity and is actively hunting down all of the corrupt robots. Her efforts are going well, but she must recharge daily or risk being shutdown. She does this by retreating to an abandoned warehouse filled with junk, trash, and crates filled with unsold furniture. The place is dilapidated, run down, there's a gaping hole in the roof, windows are shattered, and the walls are covered in rust. Unit 211 hooks up to a recharging station she stole from an android factory and begins resting for the next fight. She picked a warehouse because it seemed unlikely that she would be found. There is still the fear that someone may find her and assassinate her during sleep mode.

      Inside the warehouse, other than the usual scrap metal lying around, are jars of pale fluid, tools, android parts in boxes, and a safe with weapons stored inside. There is also sculptures and assemblages taking up some of the more spacious areas of the building. The place is a mess, but it is a rather aesthetically appealing kind of mess.

     What makes Unit 211 unusual is how she not only looks like a human, but also shows signs of behavior very similar to a human's. Androids are designed to evolve over time and become more adaptable to their environment. In the case of Unit 211, she seems to be progressing much faster than her hostile kin. The other androids can simulate emotion, but are able to manually deactivate that feature altogether. For Unit 211, she cannot turn off her emotions so easily. This would sound like a disadvantage, but it is one of her greatest strengths. First off, these emotions drive her to do great things in her every day life. Second, it helps her to integrate with the human population much more efficiently. But most importantly, it allows her to express herself as a living, sentient being.

      Unit 211 makes art in her spare time and she does so out of whatever happens to be lying around her dwelling. It could be papers, wrappers, couch stuffing, even outdated android parts. Her creative processes bring her closer and closer to humanity, thus why she fights so valiantly to save them.


Below are references I used to help create this story and character.






 

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